Mount Massive

Mount Massive, Sawatch Range 14,421'
East Slopes II, Class 2
From Mount Massive Trailhead: 13.6 miles/4450'
June 23, 2001 topo map - 1:25000

Donna, Jake, and I climbed Mount Massive 6/23/01. We camped at the same site I found last year when Jake and I climbed Elbert. There was a couple camping across the road that had their music turned up pretty loud. I didn't really mind but I hoped they didn't plan on keeping it on all night - if they did Jake and I were going to have a little chat with them. But right about 22:00, they shut it off. I was thankful I'd be able to sleep that night. I tried out my new Mountain Hardwear 15F synthetic bag, it was nice and comfy.

We started climbing at 06:10 from the Mount Massive trailhead. The trail follows the Colorado Trail north for 3.3 miles, then the Mount Massive trail splits off to the west. This trail goes 3.5 miles to the summit. Donna and I brought 2-way radios so we could both hike at our own paces and still keep in contact. The Colorado Trail gained almost 1000' in the first mile or so, then leveled off and even dropped a little as it reached the drainage of Willow Creek. A little after the drainage the Massive trail splits off. At first it's a little steep then the slope lessens on the way up to treeline. At treeline Jake and I took a break and waited for Donna to catch up, as she wasn't far behind. From here I saw a lot of alpine wildflowers and had a good view of Mount Elbert.

Fotos ©2001 by John C. Maki

We started up again and I pulled into the lead and lost Donna again. The first climber to pass Donna caught up to me around 13,000', as I kept taking short breaks. I was sitting on a nice rock when he and his border collie reached me. We chatted for a couple minutes about the Evans climb I did in May and the Redcloud/Sunshine he and his dog did, with a ski descent. This was only his dog's second 14er ascent. He said his dog lost a little steam on the Redcloud climb. Jake was on his 15th 14er and as usual was very strong. Hopefully next year we can bring Pepper, the latest addition to our family, on 14ers. Pepper's another German shorthair pointer and only about 8 months old. He doesn't have the stamina yet to go on long hikes, but he will soon if I can do anything about it.

The other climber and his dog took my place on the rock and I continued on my way. Nobody else caught up to me all the way up. I climbed up to the 13,900' saddle between South Massive and Massive, then started up a ridge to the north.

Fotos ©2001 by John C. Maki

The ridge was easy class 2 climbing, and at 10:30 Jake and I reached the summit. It was a little difficult to determine which of the several small summits was the highest point, but I saw some people coming my way and they confirmed it was ahead. The two climbers were just starting to descend from the summit, and I think I was the third person on the top that day. I pushed hard to reach the summit in exactly 4 hours 20 minutes, and that extra 400' of elevation makes a difference. I reported to Donna that I made the summit. I felt like I was radioing down from the summit of Everest to the crew at Base Camp. I took a picture of the view of the Elk Range to the west and waited for Donna.

Foto ©2001 by John C. Maki

Another group of climbers arrived shortly from the north. They had climbed from the North Halfmoon trailhead and circled around a couple lakes before climbing up to the ridge. They could not recommend that route, it was pretty rough. One of their group was on his first 14er. Several other climbers arrived, and I talked with a few of them about descent routes and other 14er climbs. The weather was starting to cloud up but still didn't look dangerous, so I didn't mind waiting on the summit.

Donna arrived at 11:30, and we stayed on the summit for 20 minutes before heading down. That was the longest I had stayed on a 14er summit, and it was great. Nice weather, other climbers to talk to, a great view on Colorado's second highest peak. Donna and I glissaded 300' down from the summit ridge, then hiked down to the trailhead. We saw storm clouds and lightning ahead of us on the Arkansas valley, so we moved quickly to avoid any possible storms. None of the thunderstorms were near us, so I wasn't too concerned about it. I was surprised about the number of people still heading up that late in the day with the weather turning. It took us 3:10 to get back to the car. I filtered some water from Elbert Creek and walked around in the icy creek with my Tevas on - felt good! All in all this was a very nice hike, though long. I have an annual goal to climb the highest and lowest 14ers left on my list at the beginning of each year. Massive takes care of the high 14er for 2001, if I can manage to climb Holy Cross this year I'll be on track.

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